I’m currently involved in an interesting little skirmish with my university over whether or not to include my blog address on my ‘business card’. Strategic? Nope. I was downright sneaky. Here’s how it goes. You have to fill in a form (surprised? No, OK). I did. But, I didn’t put the blog address on then, though. I bided my time and then intercepted the process at the pre-print stage - a separate department, naturally. That’s when I said, casually: ” Oh, by the way, I’d like this on too.’ No problem. No problem, initially that is.

Then they got back to me. “I think we’d better have your work URL as well.” Of course, I conceded thinking the matter was settled. A little later on I got an email explaining that if they put both web addresses on “it would get a bit squashed”. OK, fine. Fine by me, let it be a bit squashed.

Now, today, somebody senior (a man) who’s in ‘marketing’ wants to talk to me about this blog thing. Do I cross the border into open conflict? No, not just yet. I sent the man the shortest of emails “Is there a problem?”. No reply yet. But, is there a problem? Might I get the sack or draw the university into ill-repute (never mind the fact that they’re already forking out money to fly me to Miami to talk about blogging)?

Then I start to wonder if this blogging lark - you know, the stuff that gets talked about on Woman’s Hour - really is subversive. What are they afraid of? Loss of control? Is it that speech-like quality of blog writing? I mean, who’s afraid of the blogger’s voice. DeCerteau comes to mind.

To speak means to come forward and to locate oneself in one’s sphere of existence; it means to claim a modest quantum of agency. Circulation of speech carries the seed of the overthrow of the established powers, hence the interest that authoritarian regimes have in controlling the exchange of words, information, and ideas, and also the endless efforts to assure themselves total control over all modes of communication.

( deCerteau: The Capture of Speech 1997: 98)

Crikey, me and Margaret are getting radical.